People like chocolate. And people, especially in Central Oregon, like beer. Tonight, the two come together at Bend's most venerable brewery, Deschutes, for a five course feast, each course featuring - surprise, surprise - chocolate, paired with a Deschutes Brewery beer. Tickets are $70 and can be purchased here.  I'll be covering the event and expect to have to be rolled out of the Deschutes Brewery Mountain Room on a keg trolley. It's gonna be a good night.

Below is tonight's menu:

On March 12, Erica Reilly, of Spork and formerly of the Grove, the Source's "Cocktailing" columnist, Columbine Quillen, are hosting a speakeasy at the Top Leaf Mate Bar in Tin Pan Alley.

I heard about the previous speakeasy after the fact and besides hearing that it was great,  attendees were tight-lipped about the goings on. 

This speakeasy doesn't sound like it will disappoint, with a dj, pre-prohibition drinks, food by Soupcon and Sancho and live jazz.

Attendees are encouraged to wear 1930's dress. We also hear there may be a password involved, so keep your ears open.

Head down to Lone Pine Coffee tomorrow to get cappuccinos on the house!

In celebration of its second anniversary on Tin Pan Alley, Lone Pine Coffee Roasters is giving away free cappuccinos. The coffee house says, "It's our small way of saying, 'Thanks for seeking us out! For bringing your friends! For trusting us with your daily coffee! For making the trek down the alley no matter the weather!'"

Cappuccinos will be served all day long starting at 7 a.m. at Lone Pine Coffee Roasters, 845 Tin Pan Alley.

The PUSH skatedeck art show, held at the old Boomtown location on Greenwood Ave, proved a few things last night:

1. Boomtown is one of the coolest venues in Bend.

2. No matter what event you go to in Bend there will be at least sixty children.

3. There are way more great artists in Bend than I realized.

4. A bunch of people want Bend to have an awesome skatepark.

A notice of application for a liquor license was posted downtown recently, in the building next to Joolz on Wall Street. 

The business looks to be Bend D'Vine LLC. If we had to make an educated guess, we'd say it looks like a wine bar or wine shop. I know, we're incredibly intelligent around here. Seriously though, we're excited to see another business give downtown a go, and with Volcano Vineyards moving to the Century Center, we'd love downtown to become a wine-shop trifecta (with The Wine Shop and The Good Drop) once more.

This morning, I walked outside of my house and noticed that, due to Snowpocalypse 3: The Reckoning, my steps and driveway had turned into an outdoor ice skating rink. Now, this would be awesome if I was Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone, and had two bumbling burglars trying to rob my parent’s empty house. But I was just trying to get to work and I don’t have health insurance.

This got me thinking about shoe choices. Below are some of my suggestions for what to wear when boots just don’t cut it:

On Monday night, we all went to bed thinking that we'd wake up to some drizzly rain. Instead, we all woke up to SNOWPOCALYPSE 2011. Or, as the Source Staff coined it yesterday, after losing power, then going to three different staffer's houses due to further power outages, then finally coming back to the Source offices and finishing the paper at 2 a.m., the SNOWCLUSTEREFF. 

Here are some photos from yesterday's dump:

Last week, three source staffers - Mike Bookey, Ban Tat (Sales) and myself competed in the Education Foundation's annual Trivia Bee at the Tower Theatre.

We were robbed. Below are three reasons why the Source team should have taken home the trophy:

I’m just gonna say it. Valentine’s Day confuses the hell out of me. The day that may or may not have been created by a greeting card company seems to have become a day of mandatory gift giving. If you’re single, you’ll probably have to endure a day full of couples making out in front of you and having bouquets of roses meant for your coworker being delivered accidentally to your desk. If you’re in a relationship, you probably didn’t do it right, so just apologize already.

My Valentine’s Day usually involves ignoring the grand gestures everyone else around me seems to be receiving, then fighting with the person I told not to get me anything because he didn’t get me anything, then getting drunk.

This year, I’ve resolved to do it better. So I asked my coworkers what their plans are. If all else fails, there's always the Hoff. 

Happy Valentine's Day, Bent Readers! Here, have a cupcake: 

Probably one of the best Valentine's presents I've received in a while was waking up this morning at my house on Hill Street and Delaware and realizing that I could, for the first time ever, walk across the street and buy a muffin and a cup of coffee instead of driving downtown or starving until lunch, because I'm too lazy and/or don't have gas in my car. This is because Gotta B Gluten Free opened this morning. Happy Valentine's Day, indeed!